Located in the northwest corner of Montana, nestled in a large valley between the Salish and Mission Mountains, is the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River: Flathead Lake. It was formerly called Salish Lake after the Salish tribe, who were among the original inhabitants of this land (as were the Ksanka (Kootenai) and Ql̓ispé (Pend d’Oreille) people).
I saw Flathead Lake once, as a kid, but my only memory of that brief visit was watching a pontoon plane land on the water.
Well, this time we’d be spending three days around Flathead Lake, including driving its entire circumference, visiting various attractions on the shore, and taking a boat out to Wild Horse Island. Flathead Lake is huge; it measures 27 miles (44 km) long, 15.5 miles (25 km) wide, and has 161 miles (260 km) of shoreline. We had a lot to explore.
We began our tour on the south end of the lake at the Seli’š Ksanka Qlispe’ Project, formerly known as the Kerr Dam. It was renamed when the people of the Flathead Indian Reservation took over ownership of the dam.
Although the presence of a dam might lead you to assume Flathead Lake is a reservoir, it’s not. It’s a naturally occurring lake that formed about 15,000 years ago after the arrival and ultimate retreat of a glacier left behind a carved-out valley. However, the dam is now used to control the depth of the lake, prevent flooding downstream, and generate power. Normally, there’s a walkway out to an overlook of the dam, but it was closed for construction. However, we were able to drive down to the river below the dam.
Located on the south shore of the lake is the town of Polson, which is truly one of the most beautiful towns in Montana. With the lake in one direction and mountains in the others, the views are stellar no matter which way you look.
Despite being the Fourth of July, the two history museums in town were open. Admission to both can be purchased together for a small discount, bringing the total to $18/person. At first glance this seems steep for a random small-town museum, but after seeing the tremendous volume of stuff they have, I’d say the cost is justified.
We began at the Polson Flathead Museum, which is the smaller of the two and focused more on the history of Polson. The second, much larger museum is the Miracle of America Museum, home to all variety of artifacts from all over the country (and, in fact, the world). It was a truly incredible amount of stuff. I also appreciated that some items were labeled “enjoy don’t destroy,” meaning we were allowed to climb into them.
However, I have mixed feelings about the museums themselves. I came away with the impression of a small town that’s very proud of its history… but also – based on some of the signs and displays – very much yearning for the “good old days” and leaning fairly heavily toward a certain end of the political spectrum. They even had signs claiming to be an unbiased, non-politically-affiliated institution; of course, when you have to announce such a thing, it’s a pretty good indication that you’re exactly what you’re claiming not to be.
So while I appreciated all the very old stuff they’ve amassed, I didn’t appreciate the way some of it was displayed.
After spending much more time at the museums than we anticipated, we ate a very late picnic lunch at Salish Point, a town park on the lake shore.
We then began our journey back north, following Highway 93 up the eastern shore of the lake. Flathead Lake State Park is comprised of six disconnected units spread around the lake, three of which are on the east shore. Obviously these parks are mostly devoted to water-based recreation, but they also have camping, picnic areas, and day use “beaches,” which I put in quotes due to the lack of sand.
First up was Finley Point. If you’re a tent camper, this is the place you want to be; the sites overlook the lake!
After a few minutes soaking up the sun down by the water, we moved on to Yellow Bay and spent some time at this section of shoreline.
Next up was actually not part of the state park, but worth a quick stop nonetheless – the Flathead Lake Interpretive Trail. The interpretive part of it was a complete failure, as the box that should have held brochures had been turned into a garbage can.
However, it was a nice little walk down to a secluded patch of shoreline that we had all to ourselves. There was an excellently-placed log, and in addition to sitting on it, I decided to take the opportunity to test my former balance beam skills (or lack thereof, actually, as the beam and I never really got along) with a handstand. I’m pleased to report that, though it took a few attempts to get a good photo, I did not fall off.
Lastly, we had a lakefront dinner at the Wayfarers section, and it was a lovely way to wrap up our day!
The next day, we headed around to the western shore of Flathead Lake on Highway 93. Two more units of Flathead Lake State Park are here: West Shore and Big Arm.
West Shore has some hiking trails, so we grabbed our packs and set off for a 1.7 mile (2.7 km) loop comprised of the Lakeshore, Osprey, and Pileated trails. The advertised viewpoint was such a bummer that I didn’t even take a photo there, but it was still a nice walk along the forest with a few glimpses of the lake.
At the Big Arm unit, we just sat on the lakeshore for a while enjoying the sunshine and view and the lapping of the waves at the shore.
Our ultimate destination for the day, though, was the sixth and final unit of the park: Wild Horse Island, located in the middle of Flathead Lake (and visible in the center of the photo above). It can only be reached by boat and our original plan was to rent kayaks, but for the second time in as many weeks, this plan fell apart. The lake was really choppy and it wouldn’t have been at all enjoyable (nor appropriate for our skill level).
Luckily, Big Arm Boat Rental still had seats available on their thrice daily boat trips out to the island so we were able to snag two of those.
It’s about a 20 minute ride out to Skeeko Bay, where we docked right beneath a bald eagle nest. Both adults as well as at least one baby were visible and squawking away, which was really neat. We even watched one of the adult eagles poop from its perch at the top of the tree; fortunately no one and nothing was directly beneath.
Skeeko Bay is where the only hiking trails on the island depart. They’re all connected together in a way that allows you to hike a couple different loops or some out and back routes. We hiked the longest loop, past an old homestead and up to a high point that had close to 360° views of the lake before curving back around to the water.
Wild Horse Island is in fact named for its small population of wild horses, which are descendants of the horses the Salish-Kootenai people kept here to protect them from theft. Currently there are five on the island. I was hoping we might maybe catch a glimpse of one off in the distance. I was not expecting to round the bend and find all five of them standing on the trail. They were in no hurry to leave their shady hangout so we had to walk out and around.
Sheep and deer are present on the island and we saw some of each as well.
The trail then drops back to the water at Eagle Cove, which was a really nice place to spend a few minutes.
It was hot on the island, so by the time we returned to Skeeko Bay I was more than ready for a dip in the lake. We still had about 40 minutes until our boat returned (they drop you off on the island for 3 hours) so into the lake I went. Not very far or for very long, because lakes in Montana are not warm, but it felt good after a hot and dusty hike.
We ended our day at Flathead Lake Brewing Company in Bigfork, where I enjoyed a flight and my mom a Flathead cherry cider. I was very excited for the blood orange wheat, but it actually wasn’t all that orangey and the Baltic porter ended up being the surprise favorite.
All in all, we had a wonderful time at Flathead Lake. It’s an enormous body of water surrounded by beautiful mountains, and it was a great place to visit!
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